In the ultimate of tempested teapots, the new Governor General, Julie Payette, found herself in hot water when she gave a speech about the value of science to that regular hotbed of interstellar controversy, the Canadian Science Policy Convention.

Russell Wangersky

Her remarks included, “Can you believe that still today in learned society, in houses of government, unfortunately, we’re still debating and still questioning whether humans have a role in the Earth warming up or whether even the Earth is warming up, period?” and “And we are still debating and still questioning whether life was a divine intervention or whether it was coming out of a natural process let alone, oh my goodness, a random process?”

Because there wasn’t anything else to do that day, there was much swooning and fanning of faces.

Oh my goodness. The Queen’s representative, a completely titular appointment, actually has an opinion. You’d think she’d split apart and an alien had hopped out from her skin, for all the fuss.

There was even this lecturing response from Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall: “Your Excellency, I am concerned recent comments you have made did not meet the standard of conduct that comes with your position. Specifically, I refer to your suggestion that it is simply risible some Canadians would subscribe to a view of creation that is rooted in the divine.

“Many in Saskatchewan object to your comment. Your Excellency, I want to assure you that you will be welcomed on your first and subsequent visits to Saskatchewan. But when you come to our province, I would encourage you to avoid denigrating or mocking the many adherents of faiths that believe in a Creator.”

He finished up with, “I would ask you, as our Governor General, to support us as we so endeavour by respecting all of our peoples, including people of faith.”

(This, of course, from a premier who insists that a Christian prayer should start his province’s highest assembly, despite public complaint: “There are a few people that would like to remove the prayer from the start of the legislative proceedings or my Christmas message, but I don’t think they’re reflective of the majority of the province,” Wall told the CBC in 2016. “I don’t want to see the prayer changed. And I would work against seeing the prayer removed from the legislature. I think it is important and it should continue.” Anyway, onwards.)